The start of the new year is a great time to take stock of your streaming portfolio and decide which ones you want to keep and which ones to scrap. Not to mention, it’s also the perfect time to re-subscribe to any service you may have previously left behind.
Last year, I canceled my Apple TV Plus subscription, but as 2023 begins, I feel the urge to return to my low-cost streaming device thanks to a small backlog of built-in content and a surprisingly strong selection this month. However, while Apple seems willing to take the monthly fee back, Netflix may be on the hook.
Why would I go back to Apple TV Plus
In the wake of the Apple TV Plus price hike last October, I chose to let my annual subscription expire in mid-November. I’ve defended the service in the past, and I’d argue that it’s definitely one of the better streaming services out there, but I was looking to cut costs as the holiday season approached and felt this was an easy place to save.
Fast forward to now, and my decision to return was made primarily because I’m so impressed with the service’s January lineup. I’m a huge soccer fan, so it’s not surprising that Super League: The War for Football caught my eye. This new four-part docuseries will debut on January 13 and focus on the proposed European Premier League that was initially announced in April 2021. Just 72 hours later, the whole thing fell apart in dramatic fashion.
Anyone who follows the sport closely will attest to the fact that this Premier League has the potential to break football as we know it. And as a fan of a club not involved in the breakaway project, watching everything crash and burn in less than a week’s work was deeply satisfying. I’m definitely on board to see a documentary explaining exactly what happened, and honestly, my interest is great enough that this documentary alone will vindicate $7 per month (Opens in a new tab).
January 13 will also see the return of M. Night Shyamalan’s psychological thriller Servant for its fourth season. A week later, Apple’s Truth Be Told (January 20), starring the always excellent Octavia Spencer, begins its final season. However, neither of them influenced my decision, as I am not currently involved in either of them.
However, the upcoming new series Shrinking (January 27) definitely piques my interest. It comes from the same brains behind Ted Lasso (Bill Lawrence and Brett Goldstein) and stars Jason Segel, an actor who always felt underrated for his ability to bring out both comedy and drama in a single performance.
Better yet, in my time away from the Apple TV Plus, I’ve accumulated a small amount of content that I’d like to bring back again. I’m mainly talking about the third season of Mythic Quest. I loved the first two seasons of this show, and its third season has been dropping weekly since November 11th. I picked up the first episode before my subscription expired and it looks like the third will be of the same high quality as what came before it.
And so I can cancel Netflix
While Apple TV Plus looks to refund my subscription fee (for at least a month or two), Netflix’s position in my streaming collection seems a bit precarious. Especially with all of the above to watch.
As always, there’s plenty to watch on Netflix, some original and some content licensed from third-party partners, but none of it really speaks to me. Season 2 of Ginny & Georgia just isn’t for me, and the new Netflix movie The Pale Blue Eye piqued my curiosity ahead of its release, but its middling reviews seriously dampened my enthusiasm.
In the short term, I think my limited viewing hours will be for the likes of Apple TV Plus and HBO Max (technically, now, I’m in the UK) because The Last of Us in particular seems unmissable. Plus, I might have to consider subscribing to Peacock this month because it’s slated to premiere an American version of my favorite new reality show.
Of course, if I eventually opt out of Netflix in January, it certainly won’t be long before I’m back. While the big red streaming service may come under fire again for its premature 1899 cancellation this week, there’s no denying that it’s the streaming service most capable of churning out content this water-cooler picks up.
It’ll only be a matter of time before a new out-of-the-box game like Wednesday or Dahmer pops up and makes a Netflix account practically necessary for staying current on the pop culture conversation.
Subscribe, cancel and repeat
The important lesson I’m learning in 2023 is that it’s a smart move to subscribe, cancel, and repeat. It’s called churn, and while services hate it, it’s the best for your budget. Don’t feel obligated to stay subscribed to the streaming service forever or cancel permanently. Instead, you should hop on and off the bandwagon as you see fit.
If a streaming service has a particularly strong one-month streak followed by a barren two months, you can always join for one month and then cancel with plans to return at a later date. It’s very easy to fall into a cycle of constantly paying for a streaming service that you don’t use consistently because you’re eventually planning on going back in the future at some point.
A flexible approach to streaming is the best way to save money, and it will get you access to more services than if you opted for an always-on subscription to only two or three services. So while I rejoin Apple TV Plus this month, it sure won’t be long before I cancel again. Of course, when Ted Lasso season 3 finally drops, I’ll instantly be back again. But we still don’t know exactly when that will happen, and the waiting quickly turns into torture.
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